A Day Without Distraction: Lessons Learned from 12 Hrs of Forced Focus
June 3, 2011 by Kevin Michael Gray
Here are the rules: All work must be done in blocks of at least 30 minutes. If I start editing a paper, for example, I have to spend at least 30 minutes editing. If I need to complete a small task, like handing in a form, I have to spend at least 30 minutes doing small tasks. Crucially, checking email and looking up information online count as small tasks. If I need to check my inbox or grab a quick stat from the web, I have to spend at least 30 minutes dedicated to similarly small diversions.
I followed these rules for one full work day. This post describes why I did it and what I learned.
Continuous Partial Attention
The motivation for my experiment should sound familiar. Over the past half-decade, researchers have been sounding the alarm on the dangers of multitasking. Gloria Mark, for example, a professor at the University of California at Irvine, found that the technology workers she studied would make it, on average, only 11 minutes into a project before being distracted. It then took 25 minutes to return to the task post-distraction.
For some jobs, where responsiveness is crucial, this work style might be necessary. But as an academic, I'm a to-do list creative -- to keep my job, I have to keep up with logistical tasks, but to advance, I need long bouts of focus on hard problems. For a to-do list creative, ignoring the small stuff isn't an option, but living in a state of continuous partial attention (to steal a phrase from Linda Stone) won't cut it either.
The solution to this quandary is well-known by now: batching.
Check email only a small number of times per day! Work in big chunks without distraction!
Everyone has heard this suggestion. But almost no one follows it.
This is why I launched my experiment. I wanted to see what would happen if I forced myself to batch.
Ignoring the small stuff isn't an option, but living in a state of continuous partial attention won't cut it either.
A Day of Forced Batching
I have a doctors appointment scheduled for 10 a.m., so I decide to focus on a writing project from 8 to 10.
I feel the normal temptation to check my email while writing -- just in case -- but my rules forbid it. Even a glance at my inbox would trigger at least 30 minutes of similar small tasks.
When I arrive at my appointment at 10, I discover I had the wrong time. The appointment is not until 11.
My rules force me to think in blocks of 30 minutes or more, so I decide to spend from 10 to 10:30 continuing work on my writing project at a nearby library. Then, from 10:30 to 11:00, I do my first small tasks block of the day. I have high hopes during this first small task block that I will efficiently knock off many items from my logistical backlog. Instead, I end up bogged down in my email inbox, trying to sort through who needs what and when. READ THE FULL ARTICLE
